The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes to convene a 15th round of fishery negotiations with Japan to resolve the problems incurred as a result of their overlapping exclusive economic zones, a foreign ministry official said yesterday.
Gary Lin (林松煥), director of the ministry's Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remarks one day after nearly 50 Taiwanese fishing boats converged in waters northeast of the country to protest against Japanese patrol ships, which chased them away from the disputed area.
The fishermen initially wanted to confront the Japanese patrol boats but the protest fizzled out when no Japanese patrol boats showed up, just reconnaissance planes.
PHOTO: CNA
Lin said that before Taiwan and Japan negotiate a provisional boundary, Taiwanese fishermen should stay within the patrol line of Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol boats.
He said that following the protest, the ministry had lodged a protest with the Japanese authorities urging them to exercise self-restraint and asked for a 15th round of talks.
At issue is the formulation of a Japanese law in 1996 regarding its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, which included parts of Taiwan's exclusive economic zone within its the Japan's economic zone. The two countries have conducted 14 rounds of talks on the issue since 1996.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Wang Tuoh (王拓) and Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) yesterday urged Japan to conduct talks with Taiwan as soon as possible.
Wang said that the fishermen's move shows that they can no longer tolerate "the pirate acts of the Japanese patrol boats" and that they have become desperate regarding the government's lack of resolve to protect them.
He said that he has asked the Fisheries Administration to confront the Japanese patrol boats as a way of pressuring Tokyo to come to the negotiation table.
If Japan still won't talk, Wang said, he would not rule out the possibility of mobilizing fishermen to stage a protest at the Interchange Association, Japan's representative office in Taipei.
Hsu said Japan has turned a deaf ear to Taiwan's appeal for talks for fear of China.
Hsu asked the foreign ministry, the CGA and the Fisheries Administration to form a task force to review the issue.
also see story:
Do more to protect fishermen, blue camp says
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS